Sage Hill boys bolting toward top

The Sage Hill School 2005-06 boys’ athletic year was highlighted by a history-making football team, as well as league championships in soccer and golf.

Stanford-bound senior Zach Chandy, who rewrote the school running record book, capped a brilliant career by making another deep run into the state track and field postseason.

Several other teams had impressive accomplishments, as well.

Track and field: Chandy advanced to the state meet for the second consecutive year, again finishing fourth in the 200 meters in 21.39 seconds. Chandy also qualified for state in the 400.

He was third in both events at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet after sweeping both events in the Southern Section Division IV finals.

He won the 200 in 21.19 at the section finals and broke his own meet record by winning the 400 in 47.69.

Freshman Brian Bolus was fifth in the triple jump (43 feet, 10 1/2 inches) at section finals, where the Lightning’s 1,600 relay finished second.

The Lightning finished second at the Academy League finals, as Chandy won the 200 and 400 and sophomore Connor Rose won the 800 and 1,600.

Bolus won the league triple jump title and was second in the high jump and long jump.

The Lightning’s 1,600 relay also claimed the league title.

Football: The Lightning made history by winning their first playoff game, a thrilling 28-27 triumph over Pasadena Poly. They lost to Campbell Hall in the CIF Southern Section Division XIII quarterfinals.

Sage Hill (9-2) won its first seven games and was led on offense by sophomore quarterback Jamie McGee and running backs Keya Manshadi and Don Ayres, as well as senior wide receiver Zach Milder.

Ayres, a Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection as a junior inside linebacker, and junior cornerback Braden Ross preserved the historic playoff win by stuffing the Pasadena Poly quarterback on a last-second, two-point conversion try.

Also making the Dream Team for the Lightning were senior linebacker Nick Sohl and Manshadi, a tailback and receiver.

Manshadi rushed for 1,069 yards and 15 touchdowns on 146 carries and caught 27 passes for 416 yards and six TDs.

Ayres led the team with 66 tackles.

Soccer: The Lightning (9-5-5) won the Academy League title. A year after notching the program’s first postseason win, they lost in overtime in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs, 2-1, to Oak Park.

Sage Hill had four valuable seniors, including forward Milder, goalie Zach Shockley, Will Fletcher and Chris Neale.

But the program is in good hands, as the Lightning had seven juniors, including league MVP Alex Edelstein.

Coach Noureddine El Alam also regularly played seven freshmen.

Golf: Splitting a pair of regular-season matches with rival St. Margaret’s, Sage Hill (14-3, 9-1 in league) shared the Academy League title with the Tartans.

Senior team captains Joshua Chen and Andrew Slusser, along with emerging freshman Stewart Hagestad, helped lead the Lightning.

Tennis: Sage Hill finished second in league after a tough tiebreaker loss to St. Margaret’s.

Individually, junior Martin Park defeated junior Robert Wee in the Academy League singles final.

The doubles team of senior Michael Garrison and freshman Troy Astorino was also strong.

The Lightning advanced to the CIF Division V quarterfinals for the fourth straight season, but were eliminated by Palos Verdes.

Volleyball: The Lightning, who finished second in the Academy League, won their first-round CIF Division V match against Armenian General Benevolent Union of Canoga Park.

They then fell in three games in the second round against Chadwick.

The future looks bright for Sage Hill volleyball, however, as freshman outsider hitter Bayle Smith led the team in kills.

Swimming: The Lightning finished second at league finals, just six points behind first-place Whitney.

Junior Perry Pang was second in the CIF Division IV consolation final of the 100-yard butterfly (10th overall).

Sophomore Jimmy Millen was fifth in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle (13th overall), and freshman Nick Wan was sixth in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke.

The 200 free relay team of Beau Caillouette, Julian Tooma, Ryan Barth and Pang finished fifth in the consolation final.

The 400 free relay team of Pang, Caillouette, Wan and Millen finished sixth in the consolation final.

Cross country: Junior Tyler Ellis (fourth individually in 17 minutes, 16 seconds on the three-mile course) and Chandy (10th in 17:53) helped Sage finish second behind Whitney at league finals.

The Lightning went on to place seventh in the CIF Southern-Section Division V finals, paced by Rose’s ninth-place individual finish in 16:46.

Rose, Ellis, Sean McElroy and Chandy all finished in the top 100 in Division V at the state meet.

Water polo: The freelance team earned a berth in the CIF Division VI playoffs, losing in the first round to eventual section champion Bonita.

Tooma was the leading scorer for Sage Hill (21-8), with 93 goals. Tooma was also a second-team All-CIF Division VI selection.

Basketball: Coach Steve Keith’s squad (11-15, 3-7 in league) strung together all three of its league wins consecutively in late January, but finished fourth in the Academy League and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

The team was sparked by McGee, who averaged 15.7 points per game to finished as the league’s leading scorer.

Senior Mike Morgan averaged 5.2 rebounds per game.

Baseball: The team was in the playoff hunt before losing its final six games and finishing 6-15, 5-10 in league.

Leading the way for the Lighting was senior shortstop Milder, the lone first-team All-Academy League selection and a two-time Daily Pilot Dream Team honoree.

Senior catcher Bryan Kornswiet, senior infielder Zach Shockley and sophomore Tom Multari were all second-team all-league performers.dpt-shboysreview04.IMGGraphicInfo1Q1SJPE4200607041Q1SJPE4No Captiondpt.04-sh-chandy-CPhotoInfo4B1SJMPU20060704izlcrdncMARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Sage Hill senior sprinter Zach Chandy, center, left most of his competitors behind in a track and field season that included two Southern Section Division IV titles. dpt.04-sh-manshadi-BPhotoInfo4B1SJND520060704ip3sb3knMARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Keya Manshadi (9) helped Lightning finish 9-2 last fall.